London theatre nurses schedule September strikes

Their union, Unite, has announced today that further strike action will take place on 3, 4 and 5 September unless the dispute is resolved before then.

“The nurses now have no work-life balance”

Tabusam Ahmed

It comes as talks are due to take place tomorrow (22 August) between the trust’s leadership and Unite, through the independent Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas).

The meeting is a chance for the two sides to come to an agreement following two months of dispute.

The nurses involved, who work in the day surgery unit at the London trust, have already taken strike action on 27 June and 2, 9, 30 and 31 July.

The row is over the trust’s introduction of a 9pm-finishing shift, which the nurses have described as a final straw for their work-life balance.

As well as the strikes, as part of the dispute, Unite recently handed petitions to the Guy’s and St Thomas’ board calling for changes.

The union also staged a demonstration outside of the Florence Nightingale Foundation for which the trust’s chief nurse Avey Bhatia holds the role of interim president.

Unite regional officer Tabusam Ahmed said: “Everyone agrees that the NHS is on its knees. But the way to fix that is to provide it with the investment it needs – not by crushing staff with ever-increasing workloads, which is what is happening to Guy’s and St Thomas’ theatre nurses.

“The nurses now have no work-life balance and the trust is in danger of forcing staff to quit for the sake of their own health.

“Unless an acceptable solution is put forward during this week’s talks, strikes in September will go ahead and more will follow.”

A spokesperson for Guy’s and St Thomas’ said: “The shift times have been changed to finish at 9pm on some days, however, staff are not being asked to work any more hours.”